Broadband Communities

NOV-DEC 2016

BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The Benefits of Fiber
For Two Rural Communities
Survey: FTTH helps rural residents work from home, access health care, pursue
education and age in place.
T
he Minnesota Border-to-Border
Broadband program, now in its
third year, provides state grants
to help build broadband networks
in unserved and underserved areas.
Consolidated Telecommunications
Company (CTC), a cooperative
telephone company based in Brainerd,
Minnesota, has received several grant
awards from the program and used
them to continue its buildout of fiber to
the home.
In a newsletter to its members,
CTC explained why the fiber build is
necessary and why grants are critical
to delivering fiber in remote areas: "In
today's regulatory environment, one
cannot be competitive in the market
without funding through grants and
government assistance to help expand
services to rural areas. e return on
investment would never support fiber
builds to homes in these low populated
regions; however, CTC is willing to
take on this risk in an effort to help
bring much needed services to those in
our area. We know that people need
fiber in order to be ready for all the
advancements in technology we can
expect in the near future."
In 2016, CTC hired Vantage Point
Solutions to survey customers whose
connections had been upgraded to fiber
in two communities covered by the
first Border-to-Border grant. More than
one-quarter of the customers in these
communities completed the survey. e
full survey report is available at goo.gl/
Z7GFDQ.
SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
Highlights of the survey findings
are as follows:
• About 40 percent of respondents
said their household internet
connections were needed for
schoolwork by either K–12 students
or postsecondary students.
• Nearly a third (30 percent) utilized
their home internet connections for
health care services or to interact
with health care providers.
• About one-quarter of households
used their internet connections for
job-seeking activities.
• More than half (56 percent) used
their home internet connections
for work. Of those that did, almost
37 percent used it daily. About
14 percent of respondents were in
formal telework programs (employer-
approved work from home on a
regular basis) either full time or
part time, and approximately the
same number said they could not
telework without a reliable internet
connection.
• One in five respondents had a
home-based business, of which one-
quarter were farms. One in seven
respondents said they could not
have a home-based business without
a reliable internet connection, and
nearly a third of business owners
stated that a reliable, high-speed
internet connection was very
important to their home-based
business or farm. irty-six percent
reported that having a reliable,
high-speed internet connection
reduced the operating costs of
their home-based business or farm.
Broadband access helped business
owners reduce costs because it
– Enabled them to get work done
faster
– Made it easier to order parts and
products
– Helped them respond to
customers quickly
– Avoided the cost of traveling
to seminars, conferences and
meetings
– Enabled them to ship items from
home
– Was less expensive and more
reliable than cellular or satellite
connections
– Made finding information easier.
• Almost 9 percent of respondents said
they planned to start a home-based
business in the next three years.
• Fewer than 2 percent of older adults
said they did not use the internet;
more than two-thirds of older
adults surfed and shopped on the
web, conducted online banking
activities and utilized social media.
Because access to and adoption of
technology is one factor that helps
older adults age in place, the new
network seems likely to positively
impact aging in place.
• Two-thirds of customers stated that
the internet was very important for
their families; almost 40 percent
said they could not live in a home
without it.
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